Monday, 06 September 2010 08:22

The recent bidding war between Dell and HP to acquire storage-vendor 3PAR has brought the storage sector into the limelight. In the middle of this action, the IT research and advisory firm TheInfoPro has released its latest storage study, which looks at drivers and trends across the server sector. Highlights of this study, as reported by Computer World (“More IT managers plan to spend less, survey finds”) include a flat storage market for 2010 and possibly 2011 in terms of spending by IT managers, as well as ongoing focus on virtualization and cloud computing. In addition, EMC remains a top choice for storage-area network (SAN) equipment, as does NetApp in the area of network-attached storage (NAS).

Monday, 06 September 2010 08:22

Being prepared with a map, a plan, and proper tools ensures you reach the destination without backtracking and lost time. This is true whether you are flying through a cloud or moving your infrastructure to one. Without the proper combination of people, process, and technology, you can and will get lost. But with the proper planning and tools, you can successfully navigate this new environment.

A newly released report by the consulting firm BroadGroup indicates that enterprise adoption of private clouds will accelerate over the next five years. According to the June 3, 2010, report, Competing in the clouds: emerging strategies for enterprise data centers, “Private Cloud will be the fastest growing segment in the enterprise market. However, migrating to cloud services represents a new way of operating, and will require a change in mindset by enterprise IT leaders because ‘IT as a Service’ introduces very different business and operational models.” Technology solutions that automate processes and provide knowledgeable personnel enable the cloud and allow organizations to access the benefits this new technology platform has to offer. Before moving to a private cloud, however, discovery is the important first step of the journey in understanding the architectural landscape. Mapping the current storage environment is critical to gaining a complete understanding of not only where information resides, but how applications and management systems will be affected by the move.

Monday, 06 September 2010 08:22

The United States has long been the dominant nation in technological development. Throughout the 20th century, many inventions that drastically altered the technological landscape originated in the U.S.; examples range from development and application of nuclear fission to the invention of the microchip. The U.S. has also been seen as the center of higher education in such areas, with millions of individuals from around the world having come to America’s universities in a quest to develop their skills (whether to apply them in America or to do so in their home countries). But this situation may well be changing: the future of technological development may now reside beyond the borders of America.

A recent CNET article (“Intel CEO: U.S. faces looming tech decline”) cites a number of technology executives who fear that the climate for incubation of innovations in the U.S. is darkening. Needless to say, the recent economic slowdown is enough of a burden on innovation, since it has put a damper on companies’ ability to invest in research and development (of course, this situation varies somewhat from industry to industry and from company to company). But according to Intel CEO Paul Otellini, the main problem for innovation in America lies elsewhere: CNET states that at the Technology Policy Institute’s Aspen Forum, Otellini claimed that “unless government policies are altered, he predicted, ‘the next big thing will not be invented here. Jobs will not be created here.’” Thus, although the economy may be a burden on innovation, the government may be a far worse problem.

Monday, 06 September 2010 08:22

In what is fast becoming an epic battle, HP and Dell are fighting it out to acquire 3PAR.

Dell began the pitch for 3PAR just a while ago, with its offer of $1 billion to acquire the company. HP has now bid for 3PAR with a counter offer of almost $2 billion. The bidding wars started with Dell’s offer of $18 per share, followed by HP’s offer of $24.

Dell then upped the ante by going to $24.30 per share; HP then offered $27 per share. Dell said “me too” and offered the same price. Just a couple of days back, HP startled the market by offering $30 per share, which is a tenfold premium above 3PAR’s market value. The market has reacted by dropping the share prices of both companies. Dell has gone down by 3.5% and HP’s by 3.7%.

3PAR is a utility computing firm that offers enterprise storage. Utility computing allows IT firms to deliver SaaS and hardware as a service via storage and server virtualization. The 3PAR utility storage has come to represent resilience, cost efficiency, and agility.

Monday, 06 September 2010 08:22

Despite the faltering economy, demand for IT services continues to rise. Correspondingly, the need for resources provided by data centers is increasing, which is good news for IT professionals seeking employment in an overall dismal job market. For data center facility engineer positions, the question that many such IT professionals must ask themselves is whether they have the skill set that employers are looking for.

Today’s data center facility engineer must wear a number of hats. Although specialization is the key to success in many jobs, most companies require their facility engineers to perform a number of different types of tasks. Naturally, then, the engineer must have a broad skill set. To get an idea of what companies are looking for, simply scan the job advertisements on any job board, or use an Internet search engine. The job descriptions are often nearly identical.

Monday, 06 September 2010 08:22

In February of this year, Douglas Farquahar, Head of Sustainable Outsourcing at Capgemini U.K., wrote on how “intelligent IT can help save the planet, lowland gorillas, and money.” The company has quite literally put money down for each of these reasons.

Capgemini, a consulting, technology, and outsourcing company, operates out of Paris and has clients in more than 30 countries.

The statistics on how much a data center contributes to the world’s carbon footprint are well known. As much as 2% of global carbon emissions are courtesy of the data center industry. With demand for data processing and storage increasing steadily and swiftly, the IT industry is set to rank alongside the oil industry as a “major polluter.”

Green IT and data centers are quickly becoming the norm for companies. It also makes business sense to invest in green IT for the savings and operational efficiencies it brings. According to Forrester Research, the green-IT services sector is set to grow at a rate of 60% every year until 2013. According to Chris Mines, analyst at Forrester, more and more enterprises are going green and are seeking environmentally friendly solutions from data center leaders and service providers like Capgemini.